Sexual arousal, or sexual excitement, is an aspect of psychosexual behavior and is the arousal of sexual desires in anticipation for sexual activity. Sexual arousal usually leads to physiological changes in the aroused person, some of which are pronounced while others are more subtle.

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People can be sexually aroused by different things and in a variety of situations. An arousal may be physical or mental in nature. A person may be sexually aroused by another person or by particular aspects of that person (eg.: hair color, build, smell, smile, etc) or by a non-human object.

When a person is sexually aroused by another person, it may be seen as an indicator of that person's sexual orientation.[citation needed] When sexual arousal is achieved by or dependent on the use of objects, it is referred to as sexual fetishism. This also includes sexual arousal which arises from another person's body part.

Most people are sexually aroused by a physical stimulation of an erogenous zone, especially if it is accompanied with the anticipation of imminent sexual activity.

In addition, some people may find nudity, erotica and pornography sexually arousing, though what aspect different people find arousing will vary. Most heterosexual males are visually stimulated by female nudity or partial nudity, while some heterosexual females are stimulated by the state of romance with their partner.[1] According to the marital and sex therapist, David Schnarch, intimacy, the honest portrayal of the two people joining in the sexual act, may lead to a heightened state of passion in sex, including sexual arousal.[2] Such sexual arousal may not lead to an actual sexual activity, beyond a mental arousal. In a 2004 study at Northwestern University, the female participants (both heterosexual and homosexual women) became sexually aroused when they viewed straight as well as lesbian erotic films. Among the male participants, however, the heterosexual men were turned on only by erotic films showing women; the gay males were aroused only by films showing men. The study's senior researcher said that women's sexual desire is less rigidly directed toward a particular gender, as compared with men's; and women's desire is more changeable over time.[3]

Sexual arousal may also be assisted by a romantic setting, music, or other soothing situations.

Given the right stimulation, sexual arousal in humans will typically end in an orgasm, but may be pursued for its own sake, even in the absence of an orgasm.

Some people may experience a sexual arousal disorder. This may be characterized as a lack or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity for a period of time. This may be caused by a mental disorder, such as depression, drug use, or some other medical condition. The lack of sexual arousal may be due to a general lack of sexual desire or due to a lack of sexual desire for the current partner. The lack of desire may be acquired (i.e. it may have started after a period of normal sexual functioning) or life-long (the person has always had no/low sexual desire).

Unlike most animals, human beings of both sexes are potentially capable of sexual arousal throughout the year; therefore, there is no human mating season.

Singer[9] presents a model of the process of sexual arousal, in which he conceptualized human sexual response to be composed of three independent but generally sequential components. The first stage, aesthetic response, is an emotional reaction to noticing an attractive face or figure. This emotional reaction produces an increase in attention toward the object of attraction, typically involving head and eye movements toward the attractive object. The second stage, approach response, progresses from the first and involves bodily movements towards the object. The final genital response stage recognizes that with both attention and closer proximity, physical reactions result in genital tumescence. Singer also notes that there is an array of other autonomic responses, but acknowledges that the research literature suggests that the genital response is the most reliable and convenient to measure in males.

While human sexuality is well understood, scientists do not completely grasp how other animals relate sexually. However, current research studies suggest that many animals, like humans, enjoy sexual relations that are not limited to reproduction. Dolphins and Bonobos, for example, are both well known to use sex as a "social tool to strengthen and maintain bonds."[10]Ethologists have long documented the exchanges of sex to promote group cohesion in social animals. Cementing social bondage is one of the most prominent theorized selective advantages of group selection theory. Experts in the evolution of sex such as John Maynard Smith advocate for the idea that the exchange of sexual favors helps congeal and localize the assortment of alleles in isolated population and therefore is potentially a very strong force in evolution. Maynard Smith also has written extensively on the "seminal fluid swapping theory" logistic application of the assortment of alleles as a more accurate synthetic depiction of the Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium in cases of severely interbreeding populations.